


The Kind One

by AlexanderTheGreat



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 22:00:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18669208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexanderTheGreat/pseuds/AlexanderTheGreat





	The Kind One

It was more than ten years ago that I met her, I was no older than 2 or 3 then. I couldn’t quite remember what she looked like. Not until my parents told me about her. It didn’t occur to me how one person from my past, buried deep in my memories, could change me.  
Three months prior to my PT3 examination, I was, as always, not a good student. I didn’t skip classes or get involved in bouts, but I wasn’t particularly serious about my studies. That led to an argument between my parents and me.  
“You can’t keep ignoring your studies just because you’re academically challenged,” he started lecturing me one day. I shrugged my dad off as he went on. Ignoring him all the while, I got my running shoes and grabbed myself a key. While I was jogging, I experienced a vague sense of déjà vu at the back of my head, when I turned into a housing lot near the end of my neighborhood.  
Not much was there, just a few empty houses on each side and one lonely bungalow at the end. An eerie silence filled the air. There was nothing here, no cars, no people, not even shoes. All I saw were a few “For Sale” signs.  
The bungalow at the end however, was slightly different. As I came closer, I saw an old lady, with a wrinkled face and grey hair that fell to her shoulders. She looked to be in her late sixties and was probably old enough to be a grandma, my grandma. She was sitting on a wooden bench on her porch and looked to be in a distant place. My footsteps must have broken her train of thought as she looked up, startled. Our eyes met just as I was about to make a U-turn outside her house. I slowly came to a halt when she gave me a warm smile.  
I smiled back, soon deciding to have a chat with her, as she did seem a bit lonely.  
“Hi, Aunty, how are you?” I started off in Cantonese. At this point, I was praying to God that she spoke Cantonese as my Hokkien and was terrible, and my Hakka was no better.  
“Good afternoon, boy, what’re you doing outside? Come in, come in,” she invited me in. She unlocked the gate for me and I sat down on the bench beside her. He offered me some tea as I set myself down and started talking. We fired questions at each other with the most common replies being “Hai Lo” (Yes) and “Mai Lah” (No).  
Out of nowhere, I accidentally asked her about her family. I could see her hesitate a little before answering, “My husband passed away quite a few years ago, my children are out for just a little while now, they’ll be back soon.”  
I noticed the sunset after a little while and excused myself. Thinking my dad must’ve been worried, I sprinted home after saying goodbye.  
During Dinner, I told my mom about the lady I met. She frowned and asked me several questions regarding the lady, from her appearance to her background and back to where I met her. My mom soon shed some light on the story, telling me how the lady had lied. Apparently, the lady’s nickname was Ah Nyeng and her husband had passed away 25 years ago from a gunshot wound he got working as a security guard during a bank robbery. While she hadn’t lied about her husband, she had lied about her children. According to my mom, she had two sons and a daughter, who had all migrated to America. However, they left her here because she would have been a burden. They send money back to her from America but had almost never come back, not even during their father’s funeral. Before she retired, Ah Nyeng had worked as a waitress at a hawker stall and occasionally, a cook, to pay for her children’s education. I went blank for a moment, wondering how pitiful her situation was. How could she live being that lonely?  
Throughout the following fortnight, I paid Ah Nyeng constant visits. Every time I visited, she would do the same thing. She would offer me nicely brewed tea or aromatic coffee. I told her “I could see why your husband married you” and she chuckled. Seeing her crinkled smile, it was like seeing a ray of light in the darkness.  
Until one day, I decided to have a talk with my parents. I suggested that we invite Ah Nyeng over, and let her stay in the guest room in our house. The idea puzzled my mom and upset my dad. He advised me that it’s not advisable to be nice because people almost always take advantage on kindness. But for some reason, I just didn’t want Ah Nyeng to stay in that old house all alone. So I explained the situation to my dad. In the end, he agreed, albeit reluctantly. However, there was one condition. I would have to bring up my grades, which I agreed to.  
After my dad left the room, my mother whispered to me that Ah Nyeng was a former acquaintance of Dad. Mom also told me how they were childhood friends and that she was also Dad’s first crush back when he was 8 and she was 16 or 17. I chuckled a little at the thought and got ready to tell Ah Nyeng the good news.  
A month away from my PT3s, I saw how Ah Nyeng was much more cheerful than before and I didn’t regret the deal I made with Dad at all. It made things easier for the family now that Ah Nyeng was the one cooking and would often whip up delicious meals for us. Whenever I ate her food, it felt so nostalgic, so familiar, like there was a secret ingredient that I had once tasted somewhere. The entirety of the month went by in a flash, at least until one day when Ah Nyeng collapsed.  
When she was taken to the hospital, the doctors said her heart problems were acting up and that she needed to be hospitalized for some time. This incident distracted me, it took my focus off my studies constantly. Every time I studied, I would space out for as long as half an hour, feeling worried about Ah Nyeng.  
Two weeks before my PT3s, my family and I paid Ah Nyeng a visit at the hospital. We talked a bit, just the two of us as usual after my parents returned to the car. Just as I was about to leave, Ah Nyeng grabbed my hand and said to me, “I haven’t had anyone by my side for a long time, after my husband had gone, my children left too, but, I have to thank God for letting me raise such a kind person” Raised? What could she have meant, I wondered. I didn’t understand, but I just put my hand over hers and comforted her as a tear rolled down her eye. As I walked out the room, I could hear her call out to me, “Good luck on your exams.” I stopped dead in my tracks, gave a solemn nod before I too returned to the car, my head heavy with thoughts.  
The car rocked as I sat down, it was silent. None of us spoke until my mom broke the silence, “You don’t remember her, do you?” I wasn’t sure what my mom meant, so she explained.  
“When you were still a kid, around two or three years old, both your dad and I were working. We didn’t have anyone to look after you until your dad suggested Ah Nyeng. When you turned four, we found a nursery where you were taken care of. Ever since then, we never heard from Ah Nyeng until you mentioned her.”  
I was dumbfounded. Everything finally became crystal clear. Ah Nyeng’s words from just a little while ago now made sense. She was talking about the time when she had been taking care of me. I took everything in and it took me a while to digest them, from Ah Nyeng’s words to what my mom had just told me and how I had been a part of Ah Nyeng’s past; and she, a part of mine.  
I could feel my heart beating with excitement, I wasn’t scared or nervous, in fact, I was determined to score well in my PT3 examination. I wanted to show Ah Nyeng a report card with scores she would be proud of, and to prove the promise I made weren’t just empty words. “Don’t give up now, you’ve come so far,” I told myself. “Let her know that all this while, you’ve cared deeply about her”  
The moment I arrived home, I got all my textbooks and workbooks out from the cupboards. I decided to study, harder than ever, longer than ever, and until late at night. For the two weeks leading up to my examination, I studied and studied. Whenever I had time, I would take out a book for revision, be it Science, Mathematics or Life Skills. I repeated this routine without giving it a second thought, I would do my revisions at school eve during recess and when I had my meals at home. My parents were amazed, seeing as to how I’ve never studied this hard before. My phone was abandoned all the while, collecting dust as it sat on my desk.  
When it was finally the day of the exams, I kept calm and prayed to God to watch over me. I answered each and every with care and caution, trying my best to minimize my mistakes. Over the course of those four days, I prayed and meditated to keep my emotions in check, so that my emotions wouldn’t get the better of me.  
The exam soon ended and I immediately paid my visits to Ah Nyeng after neglecting her for half a week. With the exams over and we students waiting for our results to be announced, I would skip school every so often to see Ah Nyeng. Fortunately, my parents didn’t mind. Ah Nyeng’s condition slowly worsened but I was too blind to notice as she was trying her best to keep it from me. Truthfully, I wish she hadn’t but she probably didn’t want to worry me.  
The big day, Judgment Day as I called it, finally came. At ten in the morning, my schoolmates and I gathered at the school, accompanied by our parents. I had never felt as nervous as that in my life. My hands trembled and my knees were bouncing up and down. My name got called out, “Come on,” my mom urged me to follow her and face my scores. We received the report card from my class teacher, my eyes were closed in fear and my mom was silent for a few moments. “You did so good,” she complimented me. I forced my eyes open and saw my scores. Instead of my expected 3As, 3Bs and 3Cs, I got 7As and 2Bs.  
Right after that, we rushed to the hospital where Ah Nyeng was. Before my dad could find a parking spot, I told him to let me out of the car, which he did. I sprinted into the hospital in my uniform, dodging and evading the nurses, patients and hospital facilities in the hallways. My footsteps echoed though the hallways behind me, “You crazy or what?” but I just ignored them and held tightly onto my report card. “Hurry up!” I heard my own voice in my head yell to me. I slowly came to a halt outside of Ah Nyeng’s room., grabbing onto the threshold of the door for balance.  
In the room, I saw a sight that made my heart drop. I wanted to see Ah Nyeng lying on her bed, waiting for me. Instead, I saw two doctors and two nurses standing around her, getting ready to bring her to the morgue. “Ah Nyeng?” I murmured but heard no reply to. My report card slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor, as I slowly walked towards her now dead body in disbelief. One of the doctors shook his head and I knew all too well what it meant.  
“Ah Nyeng!” I cried, tears gathering before rolling down my cheeks. The two doctors tried holding me back, afraid I would do something rash, but I swung my arms to free myself, knocking one of them off balance. The nurses just watched, knowing I meant no harm while I went over and clutched her head to my shoulder. I cried her name out once more, before I started wailing my lungs out. I heard the sound of muffled footsteps, drowned out by my cries. It was my parents and my brother.  
I paid no attention to them, as I kept on sobbing until I finally stopped about fifteen minutes later after I calmed down. I heard my dad pick my report card up before stepping towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I finally let go of Ah Nyeng, and let the doctors and nurses do their job.  
“She would be proud of you, because I am,” he consoled me. I started recalling everything, from the day I met her after being just a figure in her past for so long, until now as I stood in her room. I then realized something, the only reason I could have gotten grades like these was because I studied. And the only reason I studied was for Ah Nyeng to live with us. It was because of her that I could have gotten these grades.  
All this while, I thought I was the one who had been supporting her, but I was wrong. In reality, she was the one who had been supporting me. Just as my dad and I were leaving, two young men and a woman, all around their mid to late twenties, or possibly their early thirties, entered the room.  
“Is this mom’s room?” the woman asked.  
“Probably, I thought I heard someone yelling her name from the stairs though,” the shorter of the two men replied.  
“But where is she?” the other man chimed in.  
Almost instantly, I had a hunch as to who they were. “Are you Ah Nyeng’s children?"


End file.
